This invention relates to tape applicating devices and in particular, to devices for applying short lengths of single ply, pressure sensitive adhesive tape to a substrate.
Pressure sensitive tape having preprinted labels and decorations of discrete length is presently available. Such tape may have a uniform thickness throughout its length or it may be such that the labels are die cut in geometric shapes (circles, ellipses, stars, etc.) having a reduced cross-section attachment between the geometric shapes. Several applicators have been developed for dispensing such discrete, pre-cut lengths of tape. They have been commercially unsuccessful because they are complex, desk top models which do not meet the need for a portable, hand held dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,927 (Thompson et al.) teaches an apparatus for dispensing discrete lengths of double-coated adhesive tape onto a substrate. A take-off drum with a plurality of flat applicating surfaces disposed about its circumference is rotatably mounted inside a housing at one end thereof. The supply roll is mounted at the other end of the housing, the tape being pulled off the supply roll by the take-off drum as the drum rotates. The tape is cut to a discrete length on the drum and is then transferred to a substrate to which it more readily adheres. The Thompson et al. apparatus is typical of prior art applicators in which the supply reel and the take-off reel are disposed in a side-by-side relationship, requiring the tape to be attached to the outside periphery of the take-off reel. Other applicators which utilize the adhesive side of the tape in attachment to a take-off reel to remove tape from the supply reel employ various kinds of take-off reels and tape guides. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,274,623, Re. 22,945 and 2,509,641.